Technology helps non-verbal students in and out of classroom

Tuesday

Dec 5, 2017 at 7:19 AM

Eight-year-old Teagan Greenlaw has Rett's Syndrome, a neurological disorder. She can't walk or talk on her own, but her TOBII eye gaze speech generating device gives her a voice. Teagan uses her eyes to choose the words on the device.

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A local girl with developmental disabilities who struggles to speak is now holding conversations. It's all thanks to a device students are using at Mary Cariola Children's Center in Rochester. The technology gives non-verbal students the chance to communicate in and out of the classroom.

Eight-year-old Teagan Greenlaw has Rett's Syndrome, a neurological disorder. She can't walk or talk on her own, but her TOBII eye gaze speech generating device gives her a voice. Teagan uses her eyes to choose the words on the device. Laura Bell, her speech pathologist at Mary Cariola, says it opens new doors for her.

"She is able to choose her own words and the voice activating part allows her to speak up and be a part of all our communication," Bell said. "Without this device Teagan wouldn't have a voice of her own."

Teagan's parents Matt and Danielle Greenlaw tell us she has had the device since she was three and a half. On her birthday trip a few weeks ago, the family went to New York City and they were able to notice how well she had progressed.

She put excuse me up on the screen and she's over and over yelling excuse me at people as we try to navigate through crowds with the wheelchair," Matt Greenlaw said.

Her command of the system, gives her a sense of independence.

"She can just sit there in the middle of dinner or a museum and just blurt out what she wants to say without a partner there to help her," Danielle Greenlaw said.

The device costs around $20,000 and the Greenlaws are grateful New York State has programs to cover it. The financial help gives students like Teagan and others a better classroom experience.

"Everyone with this level of disability deserves to have communication," Matt Greenlaw said. "It is a basic human right."

This Tobii device gives students like Teagan access to thousands of words and phrases, and it even gives users the option to change the voice of the device.